Leuchars 2013 – The Last Airshow

Second and last visit to the Leuchars Airshow and it was another great day out. The original weather forecast for heavy rain proved not to the be and there was only a cold breeze to contend with. A different set of photos from last trip in 2009, that was a very hot sunny day. The light was much easier that day, on Saturday you had to work pretty hard not to get a dark smudge against blown out clouds.

I’ve gone for a more subdued look to these images as there really wasn’t much colour to speak of anyway. I’m going to claim it as an Alfred Buckham tribute.

As ever, these will be available for free hi-res download on Morguefile.

Spitfire Silhouette

The classic wing shape of Mitchell’s Spitfire in silhouette against and angry sky.

PBY Catalina against a big sky

The Catalina was proper good and it was kind enough to fly towards the nice light.

PBY Catalina Landing

And here it is landing soon after.

English Electric Lightning

The classic fast jet, the very pointy and very fast Lightning. Which, as we discovered, doesn’t climb as fast as the Typhoon.

Awacs and Typhoon Escort

Puffs of vapour on the radar dome picked out by a shaft of sun.

Red Arrows Synchro Pair

As ever, the Red Arrows were great.

Danish Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcons

I did wonder if this line of F-16’s was the entire Danish Air Force.

Danish Airforce Pilot

I should have asked him. But he was too busy looking cool.

Avro Lancaster Taking Off

Always great to see this rumble in the sky. The contrast with the vertical Typhoon take-off couldn’t be greater.

Battle of Britain Memorial Flight in Silhouette

It doesn’t help that the underside of a Lancaster is black. I suppose being hard to see was kinda the point.

An Avid Onlooker

Loved this guy’s face. Couldn’t resist.

Eurofighter Typhoon

Very loud, very fast, very cool.

Royal Navy Merlin

Over-processed in a vague attempt to make it look a bit meaner.

1 Comment

Peter Day
September 11, 2013

I rather liked these photos, speaking as a keen aircraft photographer. The B&W photos were interesting as I always shoot in color, as and when I can, so they came as a pleasant change to me. Thanks for posting them.